Tehran, Moscow can use Local Banks with or without JCPOA; Official
A member of board of directors of Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce told it is possible for Iran and Russia to use their local banks and currently the banking relation between Iran and Russia is underway.
Speaking to ILNA news agency, Seyed Jalil Jalalifar said that there are different routes for transfer of money but due to the sanctions he cannot go through its details, reiterating that but the money transfer is underway and the idea of using local banks is under study and soon both sides will reach agreements either with the JCPOA or without JCPOA.
Pointing to President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi’s upcoming visit to Russia, said that during the visit the macro economic issues of both countries will be discussed and the most important one is the North-South corridor where the role and investment of Russia is definitely more colorful. He added that Russia is seeking boosting its relations with East African states, India and Pakistan, and the North-South corridor is the best and safest route which passes Iran.
He noted that with activating the corridor, Russia will not be the only country benefiting it and countries like Iran and India will also benefit it, adding that of course, role of Iran and Russia for activating the corridor is very important and therefore some infrastructures are required that presidents of the two states should discuss it during their meeting.
He said that the logistic infrastructures in southern ports of Russia are not ready and this issue has repeatedly raised during the joint commission meetings but it has been in vain so far.
Jalalifar went on to say that other important fields like energy, tourism, industrial cooperation, joint investment, cooperation in the knowledge-based sciences and launch of the free trade are expected to be discussed during the meeting.
He stated that Russia enjoys having a proper geopolitical position as the country is neighboring with 14 countries and for this reason it is considered a gateway to have access for the target countries by Iran.
The Iranian officail added by the way, Iran also is neighboring with 15 countries and Russia is one of them and therefore expansion of economic ties will be important strategically.
Jalalifar reiterated that Iran and Russia are to sign a 25-year cooperation document in the future and it is expected it is discussed during President Raisi’s visit.
He then pointed to using national currencies in the bilateral trade and said Russians can exports goods from Iran and in return they can purchase goods in Iran’s national currency, adding that this requires signing a barter trade agreement and banks of the two countries can register the record of the trades.
"Fortunately the trade volume between Iran and Russia is on the rise but it is not in a satisfactory level, adding that Russia has imported some $79b of goods in 9 months and Iran could at least export goods worth of $4b in the worst condition but unfortunately Iran’s exports to Russia have been around $1b this year while the figure was $792m last year."
He then pointed to the reasons behind failure of Iran in increasing considerably the amount of exports to Russia and blamed some organizations in Iran and some decisions in Russia which have affected the trade between the two countries.
END